Skulduggery thwarted … Bar secretary apologises … A new “working party” to get QC selection up and flying … Meanwhile there was a huge knees-up for the launch of New Chambers in the Deutschland building 

THE NSW bar is to have yet another investigation into the vexed business of reintroducing appointments of queen’s counsel. 

See announcement  

This was the upshot of last night’s (May 14) fiery bar council meeting, which saw dedicated queen’s men sweep to control a QC “working party”, which includes David (Bubba) Bennett, Paul Menzies, Alan Sullivan and Jeffrey Phillips. 

The party will be chaired by bar prez and SC patriot Jane Needham. Fortunately, heads did not roll on Thursday, even though the restorationists have the numbers to put the roundheads to the sword. 

This will the third time the farcical QC issue has been raked over by the Sydney bar n’ grill.

There was an issues paper produced early last year, which gave a lot of historical background, canvassed developments in Victoria and Queensland and even presented a pro-QC argument.  

This was followed by the report of the Priestley Seven, which came down against approaching the government to restore the gilded bauble. The majority found that adoption of the title would not be in the public interest, but the committee was split 4:3. 

Now the “working party” has set itself the task of “addressing any concerns raised in the report to the bar council dated April 16, 2014 from the committee chaired by L.J Priestley”. 

They also have to come up with: 

• Formulating and advising on a model for “regulatory reform”; 
• Gathering and receiving evidence; 
• Formulating responses by the council (?);
• Reporting to the bar council from time to time; 
• Presenting the policy to the government and parliament with view to the introduction of any necessary legislation or regulation. 

There’s no doubt about the working party’s eventual findings and recommendations, since the majority of its members are dedicated queen’s men. 

The hard part will be making a case to the AG, the Cabinet and the parliament that letters patent will “improve the administration of justice”, as opposed to improving the bank balance and status of the recipients. 

The case will be put that NSW silks are at a competitive disadvantage, while learned friends in Victoria and Queensland are decking themselves out in royal finery. 

This, at a time when the Victorian bar is trying salvage the plumage with an attorney general who is sceptical about continuing it, and a Labor government in Queensland that is anticipated to unwind the “QC or nothing” scheme of the royalist Conveyancer General. 

Today’s announcement from the NSW bar said the working party … 

“will consult widely, and in particular with the chief justice who has an integral role in the silk selection process.” 

Indeed, the CJ can veto any silk appointment. If he doesn’t exercise the veto then this could be regarded as a de facto endorsement of the government’s silk selections, which is not exactly an ideal position for a chief justice in which to be placed.

The announcement should be seen in the context of what happened at a special council meeting the previous Friday (May 8). The minutes reveal that the QC faction attempted the previous day to hijack the agenda and pass a resolution adopting a return to the QC title, without the other councillors considering the issue.  

The proposal was put forward in a letter and attachments from the hon. secretary Philippe Doyle Gray.

Jane Needham sought the advice of Bret Walker, whose rural spread in the Southern Highlands abuts that of Paul Menzies, and the minutes record that his advice … 

“raised serious doubts as to the validity of the purported resolutions from both a legal and governance perspective.” 

The minutes also show that Doyle Gray, in a letter dated May 8, apologised “for the content of his letter of May 7”. 

After this week’s meeting, councillors adjourned to have drinks with the chief justice.  

WHILE the bar council was concocting its “working party”, 500 metres down Phillip Street at Norman Foster’s Deutsche Bank building, the New Chambers launch party was in full swing.  

Lit in a ghostly blue light and adorned by Robert French, Margaret Beazley, Susan Crennan, Tubby Callinan, Dyse Heydon, and about 300,000 of the crème de la crème of Sydney’s legal trade, swilling champers and munching on sliders, it was a festival of plenty. 

Head of Chambers, David (Jacko) Jackson, made a mercifully funny and dry speech before the band struck-up. 

There were judges by the yard, which is not surprising when you consider they are on fixed incomes and free drinks were on offer.